The Seven Bright-Shiners
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: They were different songs and yet they still danced together.


Author's Notes

I hope I got the spellings right. I wrote it on the train home with Sabriel in my other hand, but still…

It has been a long time since I wrote a fic for the Old Kingdom Trilogy. It's all Sabriel's fault; couldn't get my hands on that book. But I've got it now, so hopefully I'll sort out that other fic I've been thinking about…

I hadn't realised until after I wrote this fic that there's another poem that deals with the seven bells, and it's quite good too. It's by Asha Light. I was almost tempted to delete mine, but then remembered I wasn't particularly focused on the bells per say, but the bright-shiners…not to say they're separate or anything. But there's more focus on relationships here. Mosrael and Ranna being antagonists of each other, and Belgaer and Saraneth. Dyrim almost seems like a child to me, pure and innocent and yet hiding something under the pretty face and arguing away, leaving no room for rebuttal. Kibeth's my favourite: polyphony…many voices. The one I don't quite understand is the Clayr twins playing Mosrael. It doesn't seem to suit their personalities, since I see her, Mosrael that is, as a rebellious kind.

I'm assuming Belgaer is the line of the wall makers seeing as Sameth was the one who made the sword Lirael and Kibeth/Dog use to bind and break Orranis anew. Therefore Belgaer made the sword which was originally used to bind Orranis, but as to which of the seven died…no idea. Definitely not Kibeth and I doubt it was Astrael since she's under Abhorsen's house. Saraneth, being the Binder would be a good choice. Belgaer a bad choice for that reason, or Mosrael. Ranna is another possibility. I'm talking about the Seven Bright Shiners that went into the Five Charters here, not the bells themselves.

The reason the last stanza as "Abhorsen" and not "Necromancer" is because the Abhorsen use the Charter magic, where the seven bright shiners merged to create. By the end of the book, Astrael is the only one still with physical form.

I didn't mention Yrael/Mogget because…really, he's not one of the "seven". Besides, he should have his own poem.

Enjoy, and tell me what you think.

* * *

><p><span>The Seven Bright-Shiners<span>

Each of them were a little different, but still connected.

* * *

><p>Mosrael and Ranna, sisters kin<br>Though different at first sound.  
>There's sweet little Ranna who quells and calms<br>The savage beast that's roused  
>And brings it once again to sleep,<br>As Mosrael, the rebel harsh  
>Clatters and clangs and lets ears roam<br>And lengthens the hand the other holds.

Kibeth, the Walker of several sounds;  
>A polyphonic song at play.<br>She frees and chains the legs that walk,  
>Yet turns the key whence she should not,<br>Leading through tunnels lined with stone  
>Or molten ash, till led astray<br>And tuckered out, they hear  
>And bow to other's sound.<p>

Dyrim's song is pure and clear  
>But hides a contrary face<br>That restores the voice so easily lost  
>While stealing the overzealous tongue,<br>Leading a powerful debate  
>And leaving only silence in her wake.<p>

Belgaer and Saraneth, another pair:  
>The freer, the Thinker, and the Binder of Wills.<br>The maker and the user,  
>The independent strength<br>As Belgaer seeks to sing of his own accord  
>And free the cat his sister holds,<br>Returning the strings of memories  
>Or upon a careless hand, erase them<br>While Saraneth: deep, low and wide,  
>Binds tight even those who flee in flight,<br>Not losing her grip to bow  
>To Belgaer's tricky yet muzzled call.<p>

The last, the sorrowful Astrael:  
>The Weeper, the Banisher, the final one<br>Still standing beneath the Abhorsen's house,  
>Pale and tall like a mourning ghost<br>Who's cry is so despondent, so absolute  
>That none can withstand her smooth tide<br>Where even the Charter magic fails  
>And keep from plunging into the river's flow<br>To be carried to Death…and in the end  
>Beyond the precinct of the final Gate.<p>

All powerful in their own right  
>But together they wield a song<br>So beautiful, yet with deadly strength  
>To bind even the Destroyer still<br>With blood and mortar at the rim  
>Of Belgaer's sword to cut and cleave,<br>Yet still together, linked hand in hand  
>As the song of the Abhorsen's bells play on.<p> 


End file.
